Tuesday, 1 February 2011

It was bound to go wrong somewhere...

Last Wednesday I ran the Wart's night race from Burbage Bridge....well I ran all of the tough heather anyway....then hit a track and immediately crashed! This resulted in an egg shaped ankle and a couple of days off.

I tested it out at the weekend with a gentle run on Saturday revealing the large amount of strapping required for me to run offroad. On Sunday I ran Tigger Tor fell race, this '9.5' mile race (actually just under 9) took in similar terrain to Wednesday and I so I ran hard on all the places I am worst at running i.e. gentle uphill/flat/road and went very carefully on the bits I'm best at i.e. heather/tussocks/steep downhill. Songs were replaced in my head by 'concentrate concentrate concentrate' and 'don't race that woman even if she overtakes you' in order to prevent further crashes.

I made it round 8minutes faster than 2009 (although there is some question over which route is further...I think they are pretty similar tbh) and finished in 10th place which wasn't all that bad considering that was the first time I'd pushed my HR over an average of 157 since October....

My ankle is fine on the egg shaped bit - in fact was less egg shaped by the end of the race, however my tibialis posterior is a bit inflamed which might mean more rest....maybe 4hrs45 of biking and 15mins running at the next open5....hopefully I'll be ok to run a bit more than that!